


Artefacts of Hope

by greatlittlemind



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Falling In Love, Fantasy, Friendship, Humor, Magic, My First AO3 Post, Original Character(s), Original Universe, POV First Person, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2020-10-29 21:55:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20803601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greatlittlemind/pseuds/greatlittlemind
Summary: Hundreds of years ago there was a big war in the land of Fanro. In this war few dared to stand up, but the few who did, succeded with the help of four know artifacts. These artefacts were to powerfull to be lying around, so people hid them away and guarded them. Today Allitha got called into a secret meeting, one of the artifacts got stolen. Now she has to get her team ready to track the thief down, before the artifacts fall into the wrong hands. And the war that was stopped hundreds of years ago starts all over again.





	1. A day in the lives of me and my very grown up sister.

_Allitha_

'No Mina I'm serious, I'm not going to do it.' I turn around and walk to my room, as far away from her as I could possibly get. Behind me I can hear the sound her heels walking over the marble floor echoing through the hallway.

'Oh come on Allitha, it is just a party and who doesn't like parties?' She says while struggling to keep up with me because of her long blue dress.

I stop in my tracks and stand still facing away from her, for how long has she known me. Ooh right from the moment I was born. You would expect that your bloody own older sister knows you well enough to know what you like and what you don't like. We might not look like each other that much in both the things we do and the way we look, but we did grow up together. I look at her and see she has crossed her arms over her chest. She is clearly waiting for me to answer her question and give in to her so I will go downstairs to that stupid party. Well she can wait forever, because that is not going to happen today and I am going to tell her exactly why. 'You know it might be difficult for you to understand but I am not exactly a people person. Because you can never know who to trust and who not to trust, in the end everybody is always looking out for themselves. I am more a book person, because books are way less trouble than people and you never have to question their utter motives since they don't have one.'

Mina looks at me and rolls her cristal blue eyes followed by a heavy sigh. 'I know that, Allitha, but it is important for mom and dad that you make at least an appearance.'

'Dad himself wanted to be in the council, I most certainly did not. So why is it that I must suffer.' I shot back at her. She is trying to make me feel guilty about letting mom and dad hanging when I need to be the model daughter at the moment. On any other day at any other time it would work, but not today. 'Mina' I say 'please let it slide for this once and let me be. I do not feel good today, who knows I might even throw up on somebody.'

'No you won't, you don't look that sick to me. And besides I heard Duncan is looking for you.' I know she is trying to get me enthusiastic by saying this but it is not exactly helping. I put my hands on my hips, tilt my head slightly to the left and say: 'You know, that is not making it any better.'

Mina looks at me clearly baffled by my statement, because who wouldn't be interested in Duncan. He is tall, dark and of course, because why not, also very handsome, according to some. Oh and he also happens to be the right hand of the head of the council, which makes him extremely powerful and rich. These points makes him the reason for soooo many fights between girls, but the thing with me is I just don't like him as a human. He is just too good to be true, there is something wrong with him, there has to be.

'I can't believe you just said that!' Mina's voice pulls me from my thoughts while she lets her arms fall down her body.

'That the idea of Duncan looking for me does not want to make me go downstairs?' I ask her.

'Yes, because almost every girl in Fanro would fight for the attention he is giving you.' She said while frantically waving her arms at me. Her perfect raven hair coming slightly undone by the movement.

'Well maybe, because I don't show interest in him, makes him interested in me. You know, that is actually a very overused plot in romance books.' I shot back at her.

She sighed: 'You and your books, in real life it doesn't always work like that. You should get your nose out of those books more often and start living in the real world.'

'Now why would I leave my perfectly happy life in my room surrounded by amazing books, for an awful life in the real world surrounded by terrible people.' I say to her while crossing my arms over my chest.

'Not all people are terrible, you know.' She says, while putting her hands on her hips. 'But, if you don't socialise, how would you know?'

I can't believe she is two years older than me. Why must she always meddle in my life, why can't she just let me be. I throw my hands up in frustration and say: 'I like people or I don't like people, and most of the time it is the latter. And as a matter of fact it doesn't bother me, I am perfectly happy this way.' While I raise my voice a little bit louder than I should.

'Alright girls, that is quite enough fighting for the evening.' A deep familiar voice says. Mina and I both tilt our head in the direction of the voice. Dad is leaning on with side against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. Standing there in the flickering light of the candles I can see that he truly pulled out his nicest suit for today's party. He got his brown hair cut en combed it back so you can't see his normal ruffeld look, he even trimmed his beard. He only does that if it is for something really important and he needs to look his best.

'Dad' Mina said, and turned her body to him. 'I am so sorry, I didn't mean to fight, I was just trying to get Allitha to join us downstairs, but she keeps making up ridiculous excuses for why she can't go to the party.'

He looked at Mina and then at me, I catch his gaze and I don't let go. We stand like that for a few seconds, dad is the first to break away and looks at Mina to say: 'Mina go downstairs and help your mother with the guests will you.'

'Yes dad, I will do just that.' She pulls her dress up a little bit higher so she can walk easier and heads towards the stairs. But not before she looks back at me and makes a face, I give her my 'oh wow very grown up' look. She turns her head back to the front and walks down the stairs.

Dad and I stand there for a few more seconds still in silence till we can't hear the sound of Mina's heels anymore. 'Follow me Allitha.' He says with a grim face while he pushes himself off the wall, turns around and starts walking towards his study.


	2. Great I need to save the world

_Allitha_

I follow my dad on a safe distance to his study and walk after him in the room. The walls of the room are covered in in bookcases, except the one straight across from the door. That wall is filled with one big window, his desk stands right before it. Through the window I can see the sunset, the sun is almost completely behind the mountains.

‘Close the door behind you Allitha, this is not a conversation meant for someone else’s ears ’ he says to me while walking towards his desk, never giving me a second look.

So I turn back to the door and place my hands on the sides of the doorframe. I take a quick glance through the hallway to see if nobody else heard us. The hallway was completely empty for as far as I could see, so I take a step back and close the door.

‘Look, dad’ I start and turn around to face him and gather all my confidence on one big pile. ‘No matter what you say I am not going downstairs. You got elected to become the human representative in the council not I. I have no business in that party except for the fact that I have to look pretty and behave like the perfect daughter and you already have Mina for that. So I am not going down there and be somebody I am not.’

‘I know, that is not why I needed to speak to you alone.’ He said leaning against his desk, with a strange look on his face.

‘It …. It is not? Then why is it you need to speak to me?’ I ask, because I have honestly no idea where he is going with this.

‘I need you to do something for me, Allitha’ he says while brushing his hand through his beard. His hand comes to a stop at his chin and looks with a serious expression at me. ‘Something very important that no one can know about it, not even Mina or your mother.’

Okay, now he is acting weird. I walk towards the two chairs in front of his desk and sit down in the right one. I cross my legs and lean back into the chair, look up at him and ask ‘What is the problem? And why the secrecy’

‘What do you know about the Zalaam war?’ He pushes himself away from his desk, walks towards his chair and sits down in it.

Is he serious with this question or is he messing with me. The Zalaam war is the biggest, bloodiest and most gruesome war in the known history of Fanro. The outcome also happened to be the reason for the law system we have today. At school half of all our history lessons our about it, they throw it in your face every single chance they got. I look at him and sit at the tip of the chair to answer his question: ‘A summary of what I know is that the Zalaam was a race that didn’t have enough food and started to take land from the other countries instead of just asking for help. Because of this decision an all-out war started, but the Zalaam was a strong and smart race. They defeated each race one by one and won more land day by day. For a while that was enough everyone learned to live with it, but the Zalaam grew greedy and wanted more and more power. Then one day people decided it was enough and choose one person of every race to form a team. This team trained and trained and trained to become strong enough to defeat the Zalaam. And then the day of the first attempt came and the failed miserably. They barely survived and the Hydragonion even lost his arm in this battle, but they never gave up. They tried again but this time they all had a bit of magic in an armour piece and when the moment was right they activated the magic inside all the armour pieces and created a dark pit.’

At the mention of this part is see my dad tense up a bit and starts slightly ticking with his index finger on the armrest. It is such a small movement and for those who don’t know him as well as I do it would mean nothing. But I know my dad, he is freaking nervous and worried as hell. Why in the world would he be nervous and worried. I continue with my summary: ‘This dark pit sucked all the leaders and a view others of the Zalaam inside. This move was the cause for total confusion between the ranks of the Zalaam and they were easily defeated and destroyed. To prevent this from ever happening again the council was created to rebuild and rule the land. This is why in the council you always have one person from each race and a chosen council leader. Okay now that the history recap is over I want an answer on my question what is the problem that gets you so nervous and worried over.’

My dad lets out a heavy sign, closes his eyes and starts to rub his forehead ‘There is a problem the council has been hiding for a few days and we need your help and secrecy.’

I stand up from my chair, walk to the bookcases and say: ‘You already said that, now what is it you need my help with.’

My dad looks at me with a serious expression and says: ‘I can only tell you when you swear you won’t tell a soul.’

Does he take me for a fool, I cross my arms and look him straight in the eye. I am not going to back down on this, if he needs my help he needs something found and that is my expertise, that is what I do. I help people who need things or people found, I track them down and return them to where they belong. It is easy and straightforward not much talking to people either, only when I am negotiating with my future employer. But he doesn’t want to negotiate, he wants me to do exactly as he says without asking questions. The only thing is, he doesn’t know I am not going to dance to his tune just because he is my dad and also the human member of the council. If he wants my help he is going to have to get used to my way of negotiating. So I simply say to him: ‘Yeah I get that by now, but I am not going to agree to do something if Ii don’t know what it is.’

Yeah he definitely did not expect me to be so stubborn and not jump to the opportunity to help him. For a split second I can see it on his face, his expression clearly shocked, but as soon as it appears it is gone and I can see the wheels turning in his head. I am curious to see what he decides to do, is he going to tell me before I agree, or is he gonna go to someone who does his bidding without question. He places his index finger at his temple, his elbows resting on his desk ‘Fine you win’ he says ‘One of the four artefacts of the Zalaam war is missing and we need you to find it.’

Wait, what! This has got to be a joke, those thing are just a myth they couldn’t exist anymore. ‘No I am not joking with you I am dead serious about this.’ I snap my head back at my dad he must have seen the confusion on my face.

‘How is that even possible shouldn't those artefacts have perished ages ago.’ I ask my dad as I walk to the middle of the room.

‘The magic inside the artefacts preserved them that is why they haven’t perished yet.’ My dad says it so easily, like it is nothing.

There are so many questions I want to ask my dad, but of course he can’t answer them all, so I ask him my to most pressing questions. ‘Then why isn’t this common knowledge? Why are they hidden?’

My dad leans back in his chair and folds his fingers together ‘Because’ he says ‘Those artefacts are very dangerous. And if they fall in the wrong hands and they don’t know what they are doing or worse they do know what they are doing, the dark pit could be reopened. If that were to happen who know what comes crawling out. So we need it back in it’s safe hiding place out of the world and since you’re the best at tracking things down and one of the very view persons in this world I truly trust we need you to do it.’

Aaah that does explain a lot, I walk back towards the chair and lean on it with my hands ‘So basically if I don’t find it the dark pit is reopened and the world could be in danger.’ I say ‘So you want me to find it and save the world by bringing it back to the council. I get that and why it needs to be done, but what is in it for me?’

My dad looks so confused right now ‘What do you mean what is in it for me, you just said it yourself the world could be in danger if it isn’t found.’ He says.

‘Well it is not an everyday job, my life could be in danger because of this. I am not some stupid person who does not see that, that is exactly why I am so good at what I do. So I want a reward something to remind me why the hell I am doing such a difficult job.’

It is quite for a few seconds, all I can hear in the room is the big grandfather clock that stands in the right corner of the room. It ticks four times till my father utters a sound. ‘Fine’ he says with a sign ‘What is it you want?’

I smile ‘What I always wanted.’ I say while raising my arms around me. ‘I want my own personal library that I get to design.’

He looks at me in disbelief ‘You can ask for a lot of things’ he says ‘and this is what you ask for. Alright you can rebuild the old greenhouse into your own library, but you have a limited budget that I will discuss with the council.’

The old greenhouse is exactly what I had in my mind for this project, I walk towards my dad and stretch out my hand. ‘Well dad’ I say ‘It seems like you got yourself a tracker.’

My dad stands up out of his chair, straightened his jacked and shakes my hand. Then he sits back in his chair takes out paper, ink and his quill and starts to write the contract. The moment I sign it he rolls it up and puts it in his hidden safe in the floor. ‘Good, tomorrow you will receive the information you need to get started. It might be handy to get yourself your own team together but I will leave that up to you.’

He is right a team might come in handy for this type of job. ‘This will take some careful planning and picking’ I say ‘But I might know a few people who can help me.’ With that said I turn around and walk towards the door.

Just as I reach for the doorknob I hear my dad’s voice behind me ‘Oh one more thing, councilman Rosoe wants to be updated at all times so you have to involve Duncan Denholm somehow in this quest.’

I turn the doorknob and storm out of the room you have got to be freaking kidding me.


	3. I never knew pie could fly that far

_Allitha_

I walk down the stairs to the party, it seems like Mina gets what she wanted in the end. I still really don’t want to do this, but I have to talk to Duncan right now. I don’t like it when someone watches my every move and I intend to make that very clear. I stand in front of the big double doors and take a moment to close my eyes. Focus just walk straight to where Duncan stands and ask if you can talk to him, no big deal. I take a deep breath through my nose and my hand reaches out to pull open the door. But what I feel next isn’t the door on the palm of my hands, no it is the door on my forehead. I stumble back a bit and raise my hand to the place the door hit my forehead. With a yell I say: ‘Aw that hurts like he-’

‘Watch your language.’ My mom whispers. I see her standing in the middle of the doorframe. She looking like the perfect wife her blond hair hold back in a simple bun, her green dress matching her green eyes and only the necessary accessories. It is simple, yet graceful, typically my mom. She steps out of the door frame and takes my arm to pull me to the side, away from all the prying eyes ‘So you finally decided to show up, huh’ she says

Now I have two options, the first of the two is saying no and probably start and war I am doomed to fail. Or the second option to agree with her, and say I indeed changed my mind. That means I need to show my face on the party, which I need to do anyway, and walk away unharmed. So I give her a smile and say: ‘Yes I realised that it wasn’t nice off me to stay away on such an important day for dad.’

My mom stares at me in disbelief and says: ‘Don’t lie to me Allitha. You probably need something from someone here, but I will take what I can get.’ I should have known, my mom always did know exactly when I was lying to her. ‘When you go out there I want you to behave best as possible, so be nice to people even if you don’t like them. We don’t want a repeat of the last party you went to now do we?’

‘Yes mom’ I say on a pretty annoyed tone and I roll my eyes, because I have heard this a thousand times before and I seldom listen to it. She clearly dislikes my tone and opens her mouth to give me what my guess would be a thorough piece of her mind.

And that is the exact moment Mina decided to save me for once and burst through the door. Her eyes frantically looking around searching for something. The moment she sees mom and me I can see the relief on her face. Within a few seconds she is standing right next to us looking at mom. ‘Mom come quick Selene and Meredith started fighting and no one can stop them.’ She didn’t even need to finish her sentence or mom was already back in the room. What in the world is going on. My curiosity got the better of me, so I followed mom and Mina into the grand ballroom.

Once I entered the room I was greeted by the high pitch voice of Selene. ‘You … You ... man stealer. I turn my back for one second and your all over him.’ She screams while she launches herself towards Meredith and grabs onto her hair. ‘It was your fault for leaving him alone and we both know he is no ones.’ Meredith says while trying to scratch Selene in the face. ‘Ladies’ I hear my mom’s voice above the fighting ‘no man is worth fighting each other for so stop this, this instant.’ But the two girls are too busy fighting. I have to say this has piqued my interest. I mean I can guess who they are fighting about, but you never truly know. So I turn to the guy standing next to me who is, judging by that enormous smile, enjoying the fight playing before him and I ask him quietly: ‘I was gone for two seconds and this party suddenly got more exciting, what happened?’

‘Well...’ The man says with a deep and warm voice, but never adverting his gaze from the scene played out before him. ‘The girl who is now pulling the other girl hair was busy trying to get this one guy’s attention, but it wasn’t working really well. So in the end she goes to get herself a drink, but when she returns the other girl is all over the guy.’ A loud crash and a scream from my mother interrupted the story. Oeh the girls are going to be in so much trouble, cause that was my mom’s most favourite pie flavour on her most favourite plate given to her by the late head councilman. And now it is all over the floor in pieces.

Mom tries to stop the girls by yelling ‘Girls, stop it this instant, before you break any more stuff, or worse one of you gets seriously injured.’ But the girls are too busy with pulling out each other’s hair and yelling death threats at each other that they don’t even notice. I guess the noise travelled to the second floor of the house since dad was now walking into the room as well to see what is happening. He stands still, looks at the scene before him, turns around and closes the door behind him. I sure hope for dad, mom did not see that happening, else I might only have a mom in the morning.

‘Where is the guy they are fighting about?’ I ask the same guy. ‘Oh, that is the thing the first girl didn’t do a damn thing until the guy left the room. As soon as he left she started screaming that the man was hers and throwing stuff at the other girl. The other girl was having none of it so she fought back and that is how became the glorious scene before us.’

There is one more question I have to ask the guy even though I have a pretty good guess at the answer. ‘The name of the guy they are fighting about, does it happen to be Duncan Denholm.’

‘Yeah, how did you know?’ the guy asks. Great two more women fighting over the man was just what his already HUGE ego needed. When will woman realise he is not a man who can just love one woman. At that moment I her two high pitch screams. It seems the two girls have tripped and are now rolling over the floor.

‘Are you going to stop them?’ I ask the guy next to me. The guy answers me with a little snort and says: ‘Oh hell no, this is too much fun to watch.’

I let out a sigh and throw my hands up in frustration, Ugh man and their love for women fighting. But it is time I am going to help my mom, because I just wanna knock some sense into their brains. ‘Then I guess I have to go and pull them off of each other.’ I say as I walk away from my spot and towards the girls rolling over the ground.

I can hear the guy yelling behind me: ‘Try not to get all your hair pulled out of your head when you go over there.’ In response to this comment I throw my right arm up in the air in some kind of wave dismissing the guy.

Now the only way I know how to stop a fight happens to be the most effective one. I walk to the two ladies covered in pie rolling around on the floor until I stand right next to them. I grab the one who is on top, which I believe to be Meredith, it’s hard to tell with all the pie covering her face. I pull her up unto her feet. Once she is standing on her feet I stand in front of Selene facing Meredith. ‘Okay ladies that is quite enough’ I say to them.

‘But she started it!’ I hear in a deafening high voice straight next to my left ear. ‘Geez Selene! I would like to keep my hearing completely intact’ I turn to Selene. ‘So we are going to set a few rules the first happens to be no screaming, now I wonder why that is. The second is no talking when someone else is talking.’

‘Hah, serves you right’ Meredith say. I turn my head in time to see her tongue going back into her mouth. Oh that is not how this game works ‘Same goes for you Meredith, you are just as bad.’

Meredith looks at me clearly insulted with the words I have just spoken. ‘No need to act like the teacher.’ She walks over to stand next to Selene and puts a hand on her shoulder as if to say they are one team and her face high and mighty. She continues by saying: ‘You most certainly are not the boss of us.’

‘Well …..’ I raise both my hands just above my shoulders and point both my index fingers at myself ‘I am not the one who was rolling over the floor with messed up hair and make-up, covered in pie screaming about a cheating guy in front of the most important people of Fanro, now am I?’

At that statement I hear gasps from both Selene and Meredith, it seems like they just now grasp the situation they found themselves in. Their faces turn scarlet red with shame and the quickly lower their head to the floor. I look around to the people who are watching this scene, most people are disappointed the drama is over. But my mom and sister are happy the screaming and fighting stopped. But looking at the two girls in front of me I can’t help but feel sorry for them, it is not their fault they were being led on by a flirt of a man.

‘Now, now ladies, no need to act so ashamed’ I say ‘The way I see it you are blaming the wrong person.’ Both girls shot their head straight up at me, the confusion clearly in their eyes.

‘We are?’ Selene says while she turns her head to her right to look at Meredith. Meredith returns Selene’s gaze and then turns her head to me ‘Than who should we blame?’

‘Allitha, darling’ My mom says while she slowly walks towards me as if I am a time bomb. Which is not an entirely wrong assumption. ‘I compliment you for stopping the fight, now let me handle the girls.’ she continues.

I choose to ignore my mom, because these girls in front of me have to know and I answer the question Meredith asked me. ‘Duncan, of course.’

Both girls were clearly not expecting this answer since their mouths are practically on the floor with shock. Mina lets out a heavy sigh and I can hear her say: ‘Here we go again.’ I can see on my mom’s face that she is clearly upset with me, but before she can open her mouth to stop me from saying anymore Selene recovers and asks ‘Why should we blame him?’

‘Let me explain.’ I walk towards the girls and put my hands on their shoulders and try to look at them both. ‘Duncan is playing with you, he is flirting with you but he has no serious relationship with either of you in his mind. As a matter of fact you two are just the tip of the iceberg, there is a long, long, long list of other girls he is treating this way.’ I release their shoulders and take a step back. ‘And because of that he does not deserve you two. If he can’t see how amazing you both are and treat you the way a woman should be treated he is the one who should be covered in pie, don’t ya think?’ I give a small wink at the girls who are still processing what I said.

That is the exact moment Duncan decided to return, walking past everything without looking at his surroundings. He lazily lifts his head and you can see his pupils get bigger the moment he looks at the two girls covered in pie from afar. ‘What in the world happened here?’ he says in his dark voice.

I give him the most nasty stare I am able, but I am quickly interrupted by the voice of Meredith ‘You know Allitha I think you are right, what you Selene.’ She looks at Selene.

‘I agree with you Meredith, shall we fix this?’ Selene gives her an evil smile which Meredith returns and they both start walking towards the remaining pie. Oooh I like where this is going, these two girls just climbed up on the people I like ladder. Duncan is looking at the two girls confused, clearly not understanding what is happening. The girls both grab one side of the pie plate and throw it as hard as they can in the direction of Duncan and it hits him full in the face. I try really hard not laugh and I look around me to see I am not alone on that front. Even my mom as upset as she was is almost cracking a smile. Duncan raises his left hand to his face to remove the biggest leftovers form the pie and tries to shake his hand clean, which only results in pieces of pie getting on his clothing. That is when I couldn’t take it anymore and I burst out in laughing, soon I am followed by everyone in the room, but Duncan.

‘Will someone tell me why Mister Denholm is converted in pie, and why everyone is laughing!’ I hear my father's demanding voice and immediately everyone quiets down.

My mom turns towards my dad ‘Well my dearest husband,’ she says an puts her hands on her hips. ‘You would have known what happened, had you not turned away as soon as you walked in.’

My father turns slightly red at being caught at his action in this moment you can see how my father is. To the outside he is this strong man who listens to no one and can make hard decisions, but at home he always listens to mom and doesn’t dare to defy her. ‘I...eh….I.um’ He stumbles ‘I just didn’t know how to handle it, so I thought it was better for me to stay out of it.’

My mom smiles and walks too my dad and puts her arms around his middle to give him a hug. Dad, of course, returns the hug. ‘I know dear’ My mom says and looks up at my dad. ‘Let’s just say your daughter told these two lovely ladies covered in pie to give Duncan a taste of his own pie.’

‘My daughter’ dad exclaimed ‘She also happens to be your daughter you know.’

‘I am literally standing right next to you guys.’ I say to them.

‘Good’ dad says ‘Then you can help Duncan to clean himself up.’ than he looks and points at Mina. ‘And you will help clean up these two lovely ladies.’

‘Yes father’ Mina says and leads the two girls out of the room.

I walk towards Duncan ‘You are coming with me, I needed to talk to you in private anyway.’

Duncan looks at me, clearly not wanting to follow. ‘It doesn’t involve anymore pie getting thrown into my face, does it?’

‘I make no such promises’ I tell him walking towards the doors that leave the room. At first he doesn’t follow, but after he lets at a heavy sigh he quickly catches up to me with his long legs and we leave the room together.


	4. The start of a partnership doomed to fail

_Allitha_

‘You don’t like me very much, I assume.’ Duncan says to through the door of the guestroom.

‘Nooo’ I lean with my back against the wall next to the doors. ‘Where in the world did you get that idea.’ My voice maybe a little bit to sarcastic.

‘Because you told two ladies they should throw pie at me.’ Duncan opens the door and I look at him. Dang no matter how much I hate his personality I have to agree with the ladies, he is handsome. Even with his long dark brown hair wet and ruffled and in my father's clothes, which are a bit too big for him, but he can still pull it off. Than he stands back gesturing with his arms to come inside.

I push myself off the wall and walk to him until I am straight in front of him. I never realised that he was this tall, he is almost a head taller than me so I have to raise my head to look into is light brown eyes. ‘I simply told them to stop throwing pie at each other and blame the person that is to blame.’ I tell him and walk past him into the room.

‘How am I to blame for them throwing pie at each other?’ He asks well he closes the door behind him.

‘Easy’ I turn around to face him and continue talking. ‘You were playing with those two ladies by letting them think they were the only ones. Which as a matter of fact they are not, so they started fighting.’

‘Aaaah’ he curls his index finger around his chin and nods. ‘So you told them to stop blaming each other and blame me instead. So the conclusion I made earlier was correct.’

‘It couldn’t be more accurate, sir.’ I walk towards the couch at the window with a big smile on my face and sit down on it. ‘But we can keep talking about this trivial matter, or we can talk about more pressing and important matters.’ I tell him, because it really is time we come to a working partnership if we want to save the world and after i can read in my own library.

‘Well my lady, my pride happens to be very important to me.’ he sighed and walks to the couch to sit next to me. ‘But if my guess about why you want to talk to me is correct, and my guesses mostly are, I will have to put that aside.’

Ugh his tone is way to serious and he makes it sound like this is really a sacrifice he has to make. ‘Well how kind of you, sir, to put the fate of the world above your pride. That right there is a real sacrifice, my hero.’ I say as sarcastically as I possibly can.

‘So how do you want to handle this situation.’ he asks at me leaning with his left arm on his left leg.

I look at him and start fiddling with my fingers how will i bring this in a good way. So i say: ‘Well I was thinking I will put a team together and journey to the different places. There I will investigate and look for clues. Once I have a clue I will notify you immediately.’

‘No’ he immediately says. ‘I will journey with you every step of the way.’

‘Trust me the less people the better.’ I say. I need to find a way so he won’t come. I really do not need him to follow me every step of the way. He probably wants to do everything according to the law, but sometimes in the real world you need to break the law to get to your destination. I for one am prepared to do that, but if he is gonna stop me because of that we are in big trouble.

‘No I don't trust you.’ whoa, what? That escalated quickly. I am surprised at what comes out of his mouth. At least he says it straight out and doesn’t circle around it.

‘Why is that?’ I ask. I truly want to know since i have no clue as to why he says this.

He stands up from his seat and stands right in front of me with a very serious expression on his face. ‘I don't trust because …’ here it comes ‘I heard how you do your work and I don't agree with it. I want to make sure everything stays clean and no law is broken.’

Seriously I knew it. I knew this would happen. Irritated i stand i front of him and yell ‘Well if you don't like the way i work than why won't you find someone else for the job, huh.’

At my words he begins to smile. ‘That is the thing princess, guessing by this conversation I take it you already signed the contract.’ oh … my … freaking dad tricked me. Speechless I just nod with my mouth hanging open. ‘So this means you have to listen to me and can't back out.’

Seeing no way out of this I say: ‘Fine but I still get to pick who I work with.’

‘That you may. I will pick you up tomorrow, princess.’ he makes a bow and starts walking towards the exit.

‘Yes you will, but please stop calling me princess.’ I say after him frustrated.

‘No can do princess.’ he says without looking at me and i can hear him laughing. How I wish I could strangle the guy, he is so sure of himself that has to be the thing that kills him someday.

I walk out of the guest room to my own room. I need to start writing letters and prepare for tomorrow. Oh and I need to have a big talk with my father before leave. I have a feeling this journey is gonna be hell.


	5. And so the quest begins

_Allitha_

I am standing in front of the mirror in my room and look at myself in my travel outfit which existed out of black knee high boots with laces, black pants, a blue shirt with my black breastplate and my long black coat. I push my light ash brown hair back and fasten it in a ponytail, a few strands of hair fall around my face. Giving myself a nod in the mirror I walk towards the open chest in the room and pull my black belt with my double swords out and a small bag out of it. I put the belt around my hips and the bag around my right leg. I turn to look at myself in the mirror one more time, after a few seconds I walk out of my room and head outside.

As I ready my black horse, Shadow, I think back at the revelation mister I-do-everything-according-to-the-law made last night. My father and I had a heated argument about it, it involved a lot of screaming from my part, but since I had already signed the contract there was no way out of it now. So I have to go with it and I return to the front of the house. There I see my parents and Mina standing at the top of the staircase. They are relatively calm with me leaving Wellapple, of course they are worried for my safety, but they also know that I have a special trick up my sleeves. That combined with the fact that my parents did their own fair share of travelling back in the day. Hell, mom and dad even met each other on one of their journeys, how I wish I could have been there to see my mom kick my father’s ass when they first met. Their love story was an still is my favourite bedtime story, especially when my mom tells it and my father constantly interrupts. He always tries to make himself look less like a big softy, it never works. Thinking back at these moments of my live make me smile. 

‘You ready princess?’ Duncan says while ripping me from my happy place back in the now. I turn and look at him sitting already on his white horse, behind him is another horse packed with a lot of stuff. I sure hope he doesn’t intent to bring all that stuff along for the journey, because that will slow us down immensely.

I point my finger at the horse and ask him ‘You bringing all that stuff with you?’

He looks behind him at the horse and nods ‘Yes I am. Do you have a problem with that princes?’

‘First’ I say annoyed with his attitude and I hold one finger up ‘I asked you to stop calling me princess, and second’ Then I let a second finger join the first one ‘Second, I do have a problem with that much stuff. The less we bring the easier we can move around. So I will give you five minutes to repack and bring along only the necessities and leave behind the unnecessities.’

The irritation is visible on his face ‘I thought I told you I was the one who makes the calls.’ He says sitting straight on his horse making him look a taller than he already is. This would make a lot of other woman take a step back, luckily I am not other woman.

‘No’ I say raising my voice, because right now I am done with him and his nonsense. I have to bring him along, but that doesn’t me I have to get along with him. ‘You are coming with me because you don’t trust me and want to make sure I do everything according to the law. I understand and accept that, but I am the one in charge of this quest, I am the one who says how much or how little you can bring. And I just told you to get your ass of the horse and reduces the ridiculous amount of stuff you want to drag along, am I understood mister?’

Speechless he just nods and starts climbing of his horse. I turn back to face my family, with the biggest smile of victory on my face. I walk up the stairs to give my parents and Mina one last hug. ‘I can’t believe you just talked to Duncan like that. This is going to be one hell of a quest I would love to witness, to bad I am not suited for life on the edge of danger.’ I laugh at Mina’s words because they are true, it is gonna be worse when Nazirha joins. She probably handles his attitude worse than I do, it is going to be hell to keep those two out of each other’s hair.

I look back and see that Duncan is almost finished, this means it is time to truly say goodbye to them. Normally I am not this sentimental when I leave home, but something about this quest is different. My gut says there is more to this quest than meets the eye, there is a bigger picture here but I can’t see it just yet. I hope I figure it out before it might become my doom. So I give Mina and my dad a tight hug, when I hug my mom she softly whispers ‘Be careful he doesn’t find out, you never know what he does then.’ into my ear. I pull away and just silently nod at her, trying not to show anything on my face. Stupid, I hadn’t thought about that little fact. I take a deep breath and I walk away from my family and mount Shadow. I look at Duncan to see if he is ready and luckily for him, he is, so I give my family one last wave and ride away.

The road to leave Wellapple was an easy and beautiful one to travel. The sun was high above the sky and its rays of light shone through the leaves of the trees. It was warm enough for me not to put on my coat so I took it off and muffled it in the satchel. For a while we just ride along the road, not talking to each other, just listening to the chirping of the birds. ‘Where is the rest of your team, princess?’ Duncan asks breaking the silence between us.

Ugh there is that princess again, this time I ignore it ‘The rest of my ‘team’ is waiting outside of Wellapple, that way she wouldn’t have to make a detour.’ I say waiting for him to connect the dots.

‘She?’ He say in a questioning voice ‘Don’t tell me your team only exist of you and someone else.’

I simply answer ‘Yes, that sounds about right.’ Hah he has no idea what Nazirha and I accomplish, we started our business only two years ago and already we are the best of the best. We are simply amazing at what we do, we feel each other like we are each other’s extend body parts. Okay that sounds gross now that I think about it, but still it is sort of true. Nazirha is the hunter, tracker and spy, while I do the head on fighting, making plans and the distractions.

Duncan rides his horse next to mine and says ‘You can’t truly mean to go on this quest with only three people?’ He is clearly concerned about this fact.

Maybe I do need to calm his nerves a bit before that brings us into trouble. ‘Look Nazirha and I do this for already two years, we are the best of the best. So we will do everything in our power to make this go as smooth as possible. Besides the less people know about this the better right?’

‘About that second part you most certainly are right, the first part we will just have to wait and see.’ He still doesn’t believe me, but that is his choice. I will have to let it go.

The rest of the ride we don’t really talk to each other beside a little small talk once in a while. ‘You see that big apple tree at the side of the road?’ I ask Duncan while pointing at the tree.

Duncan shifts in his saddle to get a better view. ‘Yes, I can see it.’

‘That is the border of Wellapple, that is where Nazirha is waiting for us.’ No sooner the words have left my lips or I see her standing there. Her delicate body leaning against the tree, by looking at her you couldn’t tell she is able to take on five guys at once. Her long blond hair is fastened in a braid, this way you can easily see her pointy elves ears. Her outfit looks a lot like mine only she prefers brown boots, pant, belt, armour and coat matching with a green shirt. This way she can easily hide. her bow and arrow case hanging on her back. She looks at us as we approach her and pushes herself to a standing position ready to greet us.


	6. A throwback to the past

_Nazirha_

I look around me as I travel the road through the woods and think back to the first time I set foot into this forest. I was traveling with my parents and brothers through this region and we had just set up camp. My brothers were babying me as usual, but when I said I wanted to hunt to they began laughing. When I asked why that was so funny they said that because I am a girl I couldn’t hunt as good as they did. I decided to prove them wrong, grabbed Liam’s hunting gear and sneaked away to hunt in the woods. As I was sneaking through the woods I saw a deer ran by and I slowly place the arrow right on the bow. I slowly followed the deer to come as close as he would allow me. I looked over at the deer and thought that would have been one heck of a price to bring home, my parents would have been so proud of me. But fate had other ideas, since I was not the only one hunting the deer. Only the other hunters plan was different from mine. Instead of a subtle stealth approach she choose a full frontal attack. Which of course scared the deer away, defeated the hunter stood still on her spot. I normally don’t speak to strangers, but she looks like she could use some help. ‘You know if you hunt like that, it will only scare the animals away.’ I said while coming out of my hiding spot close to the hunter. She turned to face me and I saw a hint of surprise in her green eyes. This gave me the opportunity to have a good look at my prey stealer. By the looks of it she was about the same age as me and she had her light ash brown hair in a high ponytail. She also had a gigantic scar on her face, its path was from just above her right eyebrow to the left side of her chin. The scar looked at least five years old, but that didn’t take away that it was probably a nasty and painful wound when she got it.

‘I know what I am doing.’ the girl said. I snapped my eyes away from the scare to look at her. ‘Where did you come from, because I didn’t notice your presence at all.’

‘Hiding and sneaking up on people are the things I do best.’ She looked me over with her eyes and stopped her path when she reached my ready-to-fire bow.

‘You were also hunting the deer?’ pointing in the way the deer had left.

I nodded and answered ‘Yes I was’

She looked a little bit guilty and shifted uncomfortably on her feet ‘I didn’t realise, normally I am alone in these woods. Sorry for stealing your prey.’

‘Well you didn’t steal it, you scared it away.’ at that a slow smile came across her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by a lot of bells going off. We both looked in the way of the sound and she took off in that direction. Noisy as I was I decided to follow her through the woods to sound of the bells. What I found was something that looked like a broken cage attached with bells.

‘I have all kinds of traps around the forest. I scared the deer on purpose to get it into one of my traps, apparently the cage wasn’t strong enough to hold the deer. I will have to work on that.’ She simply said while investigating the made trap. ‘Sorry for letting your prey get away.’

The prey didn’t bother me that much anymore since there was another plan forming in my mind. ‘I know a way for you to make it up to me.’

Never looking away from her failed trap she simply said with a bored voice ‘And what might that be?’

‘I want you to teach me how to make traps.’

She looked up at me with surprise ‘You want me to teach you how to make traps? Why? Why in the world would you want that?’

‘Look I have two older brothers and a little brother and they think I am not able to hunt because I am a girl. Which by the way is totally unfair. So I went into the woods today to show them that I am able to hunt, but then I met you and you scarred my prey away. Now i have to go home empty handed today. But my brothers happen to suck at making traps so if I beat them at that it would be the best payback ever.’ I do wish she agrees to help me. ‘So what do you say, do we have a deal?’ I offer my hand to her.

She looks at my hand and thinks a while before she takes my hand ‘I know what it feels like when an older sibling tells you what you can and what you can’t do. I will help you.’

Amazing! I can finally show my brothers they are underestimating me. ‘Thank you so much! Oh and before i forget it I am Nazirha.’

‘Allitha’ and with that she let go of my hand.

We were seventeen that summer we met and since then three years have passed. In those three years I have beaten my brothers in every single thing except strength and started a business with Allitha. The sun shines on my face and lift my face up to bath in the warmth. If it wasn’t for that stupid letter that arrived in the middle of the night informing me that I needed to be here early, I would still be in my bed sleeping. Although I do wonder what this is about, the letter was very vague about all the details. So I packed everything and mounted my beautiful golden horse, Sunflame, and left for Wellapple. The border Wellapple between and the rest of Fanro coming in sight. The marking of the border is a big apple tree, I never figured out if that is because the city is called Wellapple. Or if because of this tree the city’s name became Wellapple.

I jumped of Sunflame, fasten her to the tree and the I let myself rest against it. Never crossing the border. It is not like I can’t cross the border and just walk into the city, because I can. It is just feels weird to walk into the city of another species if you are not a trader. For as long as people can remember it has been like this, we are welcomed to go everywhere we want, but because every species has their own city and traditions it is hard to adept. Let alone talk to people, this is also the reason most species just stick together and never leave the place where they are born. Hell, if it wasn’t for my impulsive decision three years ago I would never have met Allitha.

After a while I start to worry. I look to the right in the direction of Wellapple, Allitha is always on time and now she is at least half an hour late. What in the world is she doing. Then I see her in the distance all ready for whatever kind of quest we are going on now. But there is another figure riding besides her. Who in the world could that be, it has to be someone she couldn’t shake off since she wouldn’t hire anyone without consulting me first.

As they approach I push myself away from the apple tree to great Allitha and the mysterious dark skinned and very handsome male. Allitha and the stranger come to a stop and she descents from her horse to pull me into a hug. As we release each other I grab her shoulders as I ask softly ‘Al who are you traveling with?’ and nod towards the stranger.

‘His name is Duncan Denholm and he is a I-do-everything-according-to-the-law kind of guy.’ Allitha says it with her face looking like she is being tortured. ‘He is coming with us to make sure we do to.’

Ooh Allitha and her over exaggerating ‘Aah he couldn’t be that bad.’

‘Trust me’ she shot back at me ‘You have never met the guy and he is horrible.’

Okay maybe it is time for me to introduce myself and see if my friend and partner is right. So I release Allitha’s shoulders and walk towards the man named Duncan. I see he hasn’t decided to come of his horse so I have to look up at him. I extend my arm and say ‘Nice to meet you Duncan, I am Nazirha Evenrest and I am Allitha’s partner in this business.’

He looks at my hand in disgust and doesn’t take it. Instead he looks at Allitha and says ‘You never told me you worked with an elf.’ in the most annoying tone I have ever heard.


	7. Never go against two best friends

_Nazirha_

I pull my hand back as fast as I possibly could. Ooh my friend didn’t exaggerate at all, by my standards she made an understatement. He is obnoxious and by the looks of it also very arrogant. ‘I didn’t think you would mind.’ Allitha simply said in an irritated tone. I could see on her face she didn’t like the remark he made one bit.

‘Well’ Duncan said with his nose high in the air as if he was better than me just because I am an elf. ‘I do have a problem with it, so I would rather like it if you found another human to do the job with you.’ underlining the word human.

Ooh I wanna pull him of that stupid horse of his and give him a little piece of my mind using my fist. ‘You know what you can do’ I started ‘You can take your I-am-better-than-everybody-else nose away from here and walk straight to he-’

‘What Nazirha means to say’ Allitha interrupts me before I could finish my word. But by the look of his face I know he knows what I was going to say. ‘Is that you, sir, are not in charge of who I take with me on this quest remember. You want the job done the best as possible and we, Nazirha and I, are the best. You are just here to make sure we do everything according to the law and not a damn thing more. So, there will not be a switch and you will just have to deal with it. I simply don’t care a rat's ass about your opinion of the other species. As a matter of fact I would appreciate it very much if you don’t give your opinion at all.’ It is easy to see the anger on her face and in her tone of speaking. She absolutely hates it when people are disadvantaged just because they are born a certain species. Which is a point I agree on with her.

I look back at Duncan who seems to be at a loss for words. Aah it seems like that mister peacock over here isn’t used to people speaking to him like that. Well he seems to be put in his place so I turn towards Sunflame so we can go on this quest. ‘I could make this very difficult for you’ Duncan started. Allitha and I snapped our heads immediately in his way. What kind of crap is going to come out of his stupid mouth now. ‘Or I could tell councilman Rosoe that you are not fit for this kind of job and annul the contract.’

Seriously he starts threatening us ‘Let me tell you this mister peacock.’ I point at him with all my anger coming out. ‘We don’t need to do this quest, we have enough jobs lined up that we even get our pick. So you either shut yourself up and get used to not talking, or you can run to your boss like the coward you are. So, take … your… pick.’

His gaze flared with anger towards me ‘You are an elf, so I wasn’t talking to you.’ He looks at Allitha who was standing of the side with shadow watching the scene before her. ‘You let her talk to me like that? And you would just let her annul the contract?’

Allitha looked at him clearly done with his obnoxious behaviour ‘She has every right to talk to you like that, since you started talking that way to her. And to answer that other question Nazirha and I are equal partners in this business. If she wants to annul the contract that is what we will do, simple as that.’

Duncan looked at Allitha with his mouth wide open and his face painted with surprise. It was clear that he did not expect that answer. ‘You would just annul a very important contract because your partner finds me offensive?’

‘She is more to me than just a partner.’ Allitha glared at him ‘She is my best friend and if you are rude to her and do nothing but offend her, than yeah I would do it in a heartbeat.’ He clearly underestimated the bond Allitha and I have, how we have each other’s back in battle and in conversation. It is always good to know that no matter what happens I have at least one person out here in the world that has my back.

I bring my attention back to Duncan ‘So, what is it gonna be mister? You gonna run or are you going to live with it and let us get on with this quest?’

He looks like he really wants to run but somehow something stops him. He groans and rubs his eyes with his fingers ‘Fine I will not say another thing about my opinion on other species. Let us continue on.’

With this our discussion is ended for now, because I am sure this is going to come up again. I walk my way back to Sunflame and mount her, when I look up again is see Allitha is also ready to leave. ‘Where are we headed Al?’

She points forward and says ‘Starryion’ and starts riding away on her horse with mister peacock slowly following him.

I ride next to Allitha ‘Starryion? Why would we go to the city of the hydragonions?’ I was always a bit scared of them, like most of the people that weren’t them. The hydragonions were known for being very old and wise creatures. Also they possessed magic which not a lot of species do. And the fact that they look like a dragon with a human body, didn’t help their case.

Allitha looked at me with question in her eyes, but soon realised she didn’t fill me in on the details. ‘Oh let me fill you in on what this quest is about. You know about the war with the Zalaam right?’

That one big war that was like years ago, why is that important? ‘Yeah I know about that.’

‘Wait’ mister peacock butted in ‘You can’t honestly mean to talk about it now here on the road.’

Allitha and I both looked at him at the same time and said in unison ‘Shut up!’ He quickly shut his mouth and let his horse slow down so he was a few paces behind.

‘Continue’ I say to Allitha.

‘So in this war there were four artefacts that helped seal the Zalaam away from this world. These artefacts presumably still have power and are safely protected in each city of the different species. But one of them was stolen, the one in Starryion. So we ..’

‘So we need to go there and figure out how that could have happened.’ I finish her sentence. ‘But what do we get out of it?’

‘The same we would get out of any job.’ she simply answers.

She joking with me, she must know there is more to this case than just an easy search and find job. ‘Surely we get more out of this.’

‘Oh nothing all that special.’ She says with the biggest look of joy on her face ‘Just a library of our own.’

She has got to be kidding me! ‘Are you serious? We get a library we can fill with books and use as an office.’

‘It is going to be built on my ground, but yeah we are.’ I don’t know how she did it, but this is amazing news. Not only do we have a big place to read and store our books, we also have our own office. With business taking of this well we really needed an office and now we are going to have one after we do this quest. ‘Now all we have to do is survive this quest.’ Allitha says casually.

She also has this nagging feeling about this quest ‘It is a bigger case then normal, but we have each other so I think we will make it. And who knows maybe we will save the world.’

‘Hah, that is exactly what I thought.’ Allitha says laughing.

‘Uh… ladies is it possible we could take a pit stop to rest? My gorgeous butt is hurting from riding in a saddle this long.’

‘No!’ Allitha and I yelled over our shoulder. Who in the world calls his own but gorgeous? Is mister peacock for real. This is going to be on hell of a long quest and already I can’t wait till it is over.


	8. Sometimes the universe gives you a present

I look around me and point towards a space on high grounds in the woods ‘That looks like it is a good place to set up camp for the night.’ 

Allitha follows the way in which my finger is pointing and shifts a bit in her saddle to have a better look. ‘By the looks of it you are right, let's sleep there for the night.’

‘Wait, what?’ mister peacock said catching up to us. ‘We have no time for sleeping we need to get to Starryion as soon as possible!’

‘Yeah, well we wouldn’t want our horses to drop dead before we reach the city, now do we?’ I responded seriously does this guy ever travel. Because if he does he should know that it isn’t safe to travel through the woods in the dark. 

‘I hadn’t thought about that.’ yeah well by the looks of it you didn’t think about a lot of things. 

We reached the spot I pointed out and we descend from our horses with our stuff. As we three walk slowly to the river to tie up our horses so they can rest, eat and drink. Surprisingly mister peacock hadn’t said much the rest of the entire road. I look over at his way and see that he still stands next to his horse, the look on his face is one of lost. He has absolutely no clue what to do, this is gonna be fun to watch. Mister I am better than everyone doesn’t know how to set up a camp. Allitha’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts ‘Do you want to go hunting for food, so I can set up camp? Or do you rather set up camp?’ 

Normally I would prefer to go hunting and let her set up camp, but… I would rather watch mister peacock struggle. I look at Allitha ‘I think I wanna stay here today and set up camp.’ My face turning back to him.

‘Alright’ she says in a sceptic voice ‘I will need your bow and arrows then.’ I pull the bow over my shoulder and give it to her. As she walks towards the woods I hear her say one more thing ‘Just … just don’t be too harsh on him, alright. We may not like him but he does report back to the person who holds our contract.’

Me… not being harsh on him? He is the one who started this treatment. It is just gonna be a little bit of payback for treating me like I was dirt. I walked over to where our stuff lay and grabbed the water flasks we had with us. I look at mister peacock and he still hadn’t made any effort to set up camp. ‘Hee mister, have you ever set up camp before?’

He looked at me the surprise on his face ‘No… no I haven’t.’ Saying this he looked a bit dejected. I can’t believe that by looking at him, I feel a bit sorry for the guy. ‘I always had people who did it for me and I would like to keep it that way.’ Aaaaaand all my thoughts of giving the guy a second chance are out the window now. 

I look at the water flasks I’m holding in my arms. I am not even gonna give him a heads up as I throw one at him. When it hits him he snaps his angry face to me, opening his mouth. But I cut him off before he could get one word out. ‘Well, mister peacock, this means it is about time you lift one of your spoiled little fingers. So you are on water duty while I will make a suitable fire.’ I stalk towards him and give him the leftover flasks.  
He looks at me like I am some crazy person, which isn’t entirely wrong, but still he can’t look at me like that because what I said wasn’t crazy. ‘I am not doing that.’ he says in protest.

‘Yes you are or else you won’t get dinner.’

Duncan gasps ‘You wouldn’t dare!’

Oh he thinks I am not serious, well than he is in for one hell of a surprise ‘Wanna watch me?’

His pupils widened as he slowly shakes his head and hurries towards the lake. Satisfied with the outcome I search around for wood to put on the fire. When i gathered enough I take out my hunting knife to make some wood chip to start a fire. But before I could lit the fire I heard a yelp coming from the river. No matter how much I hope something happened to the man, he can’t die that would just look bad for Allitha and me. So I rush towards the river only to find mister peacock completely soaked and angry. I try to hold back my laugh, but fail miserably. ‘Yeah, Yeah, don’t expect me to believe you hadn’t planned for something like this.’ He says pretty annoyed as he climbs out of the river.

I wish I could actually plan for something like this. ‘No I didn’t plan this, but I sure hoped for it.’ Oh this is just way to funny, but wait … the water flasks! My laughter stops immediately ‘Please tell me you still have the water flasks.’

He looks at me like I am a dumb person ‘I might not know how to set up camp, but I do know how to fill a flask of water.’ He bends down and grabs the water flasks from the ground. 

‘Well then why don’t you hang up your clothes, while I get the fire started.’ We wouldn’t want a sick person on the road that would only slow us down. 

He looks at his clothes ‘This is the second time in two days I need to change my clothes. It is like the universe is laughing at me.’

Well, in that case the universe gave me a gift. ‘I have no need of your self-pity just go and change behind that tree.’ I point towards a big tree not too far from camp, but far enough to make me comfortable. He grabs his spare clothing and walks towards the tree as I lit the fire.

Not long after that Allitha returns with a rabbit as dinner. We just made it ready to cook it above the fire as mister peacock returned. Allitha looks at him ‘Why is your hair wet?’

Duncan sits down by the fire ‘I fell into the river’ and glares at me.

Allitha looks at me, than at him then back at me again. She points towards him ‘Tell me Nazirha, did you push him?’

I throw my hands up in the air ‘I wish I did, but he fell into the river all on his own! All I did was tell him to get water.’ 

‘Aaah’ Allitha says while laughing ‘Then he is clumsy, so no knives around him.’

‘Hee, it wasn’t my fault the rocks where slippery.’ His voice outraged.

I roll my eyes ‘Yeah, well, keep telling yourself that. Now eat your part of the rabbit and then go to sleep in your bedroll. Tomorrow we will continue our road.’ I sure hope he doesn’t snore.


End file.
